HR 211: Letter to the Chairman from H.H. Princess Lalla Joumala Alaoui,

Moroccan Ambassador in the UK

 

Given your keen interest in the Sahara issue, I would like to let you know that the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants visited, in July 2009, Algeria, Morocco and the Tindouf Camps to assess the situation of Saharawi refugees.

 

This independent NGO, which has acted for nearly 100 years to address the needs and rights of persons in forced or voluntary migration worldwide, issued a report entitled "Stonewalling on Refugee Rights: Algeria and the Sahrawi", a summary of which is attached, highlighting the plight of the Saharawi refugees who are held in the camps against their will and are deprived of freedom of movement.

 

Hereafter are some excerpts from the report's conclusions:

 

• Algeria fails up to its commitments under 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees;

• Algeria and the polisario both refuse to allow a census to count and register the refugee population, furthering suspicion that its agents are diverting, smuggling and reselling substantial amounts of international humanitarian aid;

• The polisario and Algerian military maintain checkpoints at roadways leading to, from and in between the camps and Algerian police operate checkpoints throughout the country;

• An independent survey showed that 9 out of 10 Sahrawi refugees desire a visa to a foreign country to be able to emigrate. The survey included all layers of the Sahrawi refugee society, intellectuals, students, pupils, civil servants of the exiled Western Sahara Government. workers, unemployed and even businessmen and employers;

• Polisario refused, through the UNHCR's Confidence Building Measures program organizing weekly flights of some 30 beneficiaries from both sides, to allow entire families to participate together in order to deter defections;

• Even if Sahrawi refugees receive permission to leave the camps, it is virtually impossible for them or any other refugee to work legally in Algeria.

 

Further details pertaining to this report could be downloaded from the website of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants at the following link:

http://www.refugees.org/pdfs/algeria.pdf

 

Ambassador

H.H. Princess Lalla Joumala Alaoui

 

18 January 2010

Annex

 

Un-official summary: "Stonewalling on Refugee Rights: Algeria and the Sahrawi."

 

A - Introductory remarks and background

 

The United States Committee on Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) has recently published a report entitled Stonewalling on refugee rights: Algeria and the Sahrawi, regarding the human rights situation of Sahrawi refugees in Algeria.

 

The US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation that has served refugees and immigrants and defended the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons worldwide since 1911.[1] The report, summarised herewith, is the product of an extensive research undertaken over many years by USCRI's Director of Government Relations and International Advocacy, M. Merrill Smith, and follows his recent visit to Algeria, Morocco and the Tindouf Camps during the summer of 2009.

 

For more than 34 years, Sahrawi refugees have been warehoused in camps located in the far western corner of the Algerian territory. This area is subject to extreme summer temperatures, frequent sand storms, and little or no vegetation. Prospects for livelihoods are virtually non-existent and the refugees are almost completely dependent upon international aid.

 

B - Main findings of the report

 

I - Algeria Denies Responsibility for Refugees in "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic".

 

- Algeria fails to acknowledge its responsibility for the treatment of Sahrawi refugees on its territory, pretending they are under the jurisdiction of the "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic", the government-in-exile which administers the refugee camps within Algeria.

 

- Algeria fails to live up to its commitments under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol with respect to the Sahrawi refugees from the Western Sahara.

 

- USCRI made repeated attempts to meet with and interview relevant Algerian officials in charge of human rights issues, namely from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but in vain.

 

II - Freedom of Movement

- A survey published in 2006 by an independent newsletter in the camps revealed "wide discontent with the situation in the camps" amongst 9 out of 10 Sahrawi refugees who desire a visa to emigrate to a foreign country.[2]

 

- Refugees can travel to Mauritania with only their Polisario identity cards but not if they declare or give rise to suspicion that they intend to continue on to Morocco. Everyone left family members or substantial assets (including a herd of camels, in one case) behind in order to allay any such suspicion.

 

- The Polisario and/or Algerian military maintain checkpoints at roadways leading to, from, and in between the camps. The Polisario alone, however, staffs the main border post between Algeria and Mauritania.

 

- On occasion refugees may travel abroad or throughout the Algerian territory (beyond Tindouf) provided they have document permission from both the Government of Algeria and the Polisario rebel movement.

 

- The process for applying for such a permit is said to be cumbersome and onerous, and the criteria arbitrary and restrictive.

 

III - Limitations to Confidence Building Measures (CBMs)

 

- 8,600 persons benefited from the exchange of family visits (by air) organized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, between the camps and Morocco.

 

- The Polisario reportedly refused to allow entire families to participate together in order to deter defections. The most severe limitation on the program is Algeria's refusal to allow the exchange of family visits overland.

 

IV - Travel, Residence and Employment in Algeria

 

- Algerian law makes it virtually impossible for refugees (other than Palestinians) to obtain permits to work legally in Algeria, regardless of the fact that they have received permission that allows them to travel freely within the territory.

 

- Although Algerian law provides for authorities to issue residence permits and employment authorisation valid for three years to recognized refugees, Algerian authorities do not formally recognize any refugees, and de facto refugees therefore have no more rights than foreigners generally.

 

V - Return to Western Sahara through Berm

 

- The report tells the story of Mr. Sghair, a refugee who, after a failed attempt to cross to Morocco was detained by the Polisario for three months in a containers, like those in which they ship food from Spain. He had "chains on his feet", "no [access to] toilet facilities", "one litre of water a day and lentils" every twelve hours.

 

VI - Detention of unwed mothers for "adultery", rapists for "homosexuality ", and others without trial.

 

- Women who become pregnant out of wedlock are prosecuted for the crime of "adultery" and jailed in a detention facility referred to as "the Center for Maternity Assistance".

 

- The Polisario acknowledges three to five cases per year and interprets them legally as "adultery", a crime punishable by one to five years imprisonment under its penal code.

 

- It has been reported that certain male offenders have been jailed without trial for periods of time ranging from 8 days to 7 months.

 

- Polisario officials declared that they were holding some prisoners on charges of "homosexuality" even as they alleged facts more fittingly associated with rape.

 

VII- Malnutrition and Humanitarian Aid Diversion

 

Malnutrition:

 

- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme (WFP) have repeatedly requested permission to conduct a census of the population to develop a credible database for aid distribution.

 

- The Algerian Government still refuses to conduct such a census. It recently reaffirmed this position during the historic visit by High Commissioner Antonio Guterres to the camps, when he declared that increasing the amount of humanitarian aid was contingent upon such a census.

 

- According to a survey conducted in the camps last year by international agencies, there was 18% prevalence of global acute malnutrition (GAM) and 5% prevalence of severe acute malnutrition. This represents a drastic increase compared to the findings in 2005.

 

- 62% of children aged 6 to 59 months suffered from anemia, 6% of them severely, with the highest rates among those 30 months old or younger.

 

Humanitarian aid diversion:

 

- A 2005 confidential report of the UNHCR's Inspector General's Office notes that: according to various sources, food and non-food items were being diverted at the Port of Oran, en route to Tindouf (and after arrival at the Rabouni warehouse in Tindouf) were then transported to parts of Algeria, Mauritania and Western Sahara.

 

- According to OLAF[3] (The European Antifraud Office) Algerian and Sahrawi nationals working for NGOs such as the Algerian Red Crescent Society and the Sahrawi Red Crescent Society are responsible for the diversion of humanitarian aid.

 

- A reliable UNHCR source shared that it was not unlikely that food aid in particular was being sent to Western Sahara to supply (Polisario) troops.

 

VIII- Conclusion and recommendations

 

- Algeria need not restrict the movement, residence and employment rights of Sahrawi refugees. Instead, it should honor its commitments under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its subsequent Protocol.

 

- Donors should reserve a significant portion of aid that would otherwise go to the camps for hosting alternatives in Algeria consistent with the rights of refugees under those instruments and set progressively larger amounts of aide aside for such purposes in coming years.

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[1] For nearly 100 years the USCRI has acted to address the needs and rights of persons in forced or voluntary migration worldwide by advancing fair and humane public policy, facilitating and providing direct professional services, and promoting the full participation of migrants in community life.

[2] Were surveyed: 540 residents between the ages of 17 and 35, representing all layers of Sahrawi refugee civil servants of the exiled Western Sahara Government, workers, unemployed and businessmen and employers.

[3] (OLAF: Office Europen de LUlIe Anti-Fraude).